Naga Feeding in Shasta

I woke up this morning to see a young buck walking quietly across the snow-covered land. The deer's gentle nature reminded me how we should walk on this Mother Earth and how we should pray.

The morning here on the North/East side of Mt. Shasta was cold with a biting wind. I wrapped up and pulled my red cap way below my ears as I made my way across my parent's property to a neighborhood stream in Angel Valley. It was New Moon time, time for me to feed the Nagas.

I looked for the signs of nature as I walked. I approached a pine tree forest and I was just thinking how sometimes the spirits of the nagas manifest in certain trees and I wondered why...

Then it dawned on me. The Nagas live in the water and as the water is pulled up though the tree roots, their spirit sometimes is drawn up and begins to reside in a tree. The tree's branches will twist and turn, forming into the shape of a dragon or naga.

Just then I found a very large tree at the side of the road. It was weeping sap that shined golden as the sun broke though the clouds. I took a pinch of lavender from my pocket and offered it to the tree and carefully removed a waterfall of golden pitch from the bark of the tree. I smelled it. Ahhh! it was the very essence of every tree in the forest. It was Mother Nature's natural perfume. Just breathing in the pine sap instantly connected me to every pine tree in the forest. What a wonderful gift that nature gave me.

I walked further, gathering rose hips along the way. The hips are filled with vitamin C and it was the perfect time to pick them after the winter snows which ripens the fruit and make them soft and easy to eat from the brush. The first hips I found were a bit dried-out orange rather then juicy red. But as I moved closer to the stream, the rose hips became red. The underground water was feeding the bushes, bringing more fertility to the growing process of the roses. This is the way they say that the Naga Beings are connected to the fertility of the Earth. Water feeds the fertility of the land and the Nagas are connected to the water.

I came to the stream in Angel Valley. I said my prayers and offered the milk and honey to the babbling brook that made its way though the pine tree forest and traveled into the farm land across the way.

As I walked back I found deer prints and stood in them, pressing my foot into the prints of the deer. I made a prayer to find my gentleness in this life, to become more gentle even if life seems to sometimes be harsh. The deer spirit is gentle but very strong, swift and powerful. I was reminded of the teachings of the deer: to be powerful but to use that power with gentleness, and sometime quietness as you move though this world. It was something I needed to strive for in my journey.

I came home and unpacked my treasure from my pocket. I spread out the rose hips in the kitchen for a cup of tea to warm myself. Then I placed the golden pine sap on my altar in my bedroom. I looked down and the sap had formed into the shape of a golden dragon. A great gift for the last Naga Offering of 2008.

More Precious then silver
More Precious then gold
Are the Seeds of the Earth
And the Wisdom they hold

More Precious then silver
More Precious then gold
Are the gifts of the Earth
That are about to Unfold.

Poem by Raylene Abbott

Dragons of Java

Welcome to my blog. The purpose of this blog is to share some of my experiences and also your own experiences with the Naga offerings and Dragons Spirit. You might notice at the side of this blog is the Blog Archive, please start from the bottom of the list to read the first blog entree. There is also link at the bottom of each entree where you can leave your comments. This blog is also connected with other blogs and my dragon website that gives many explanations of what the Naga and Dragon energies are about and how important it is in this time for the health of the earth. I thank all of you who have made the commitment to do this work may all your efforts bring

Countless Blessings

Raylene Abbott Nov. 6

THE DRAGON PRACTICE

The following is an image documentary of how to create and practice the Dragon Vase offering.

You will begin by gathering materials. This summer I had the opportunity to shop at the local markets to gather my offering materials. You will first need to find clay pots which have tight, fitting lids. If you are offering to water dragons you will need silver or metal vases also with firm fitting lids.

The offering materials vary according to what you can find. I use semi-precious stones, and coins of all kinds. I offer rice which I color yellow by adding turmeric spice and a small amount of oil to distribute the yellow spice over the grains of rice. I also use offerings of beans, lentils, chickpeas, beautiful shells, spices, local herbs, dried mushrooms, herbal medicines to heal the dragons, and grains of all kinds. All offerings are dry materials. You might also like to offer gold leaf and small fetishes of fish, turtle, birds, or natural animals which would be pleasing to the dragons.

I found some beautiful mirrored mandalas from India which I added to my dragon vases and also some very small golden lotuses for my Java Dragon Vases.

Once you have gathered all your material it is now time to begin your process. Now is a good time to take a shower or a bath before you begin. It is good to be clean in both body and mind. You can begin with a small inner prayer in your own words to center your mind.

I begin by slowly creating layers of the offerings in each vase

In the above picture I am offering mung beans.

This part of the process will need to be done on a

computer or by hand if you would like.

I make paper scrolls of the Dragon Mantra.

The Dragon Mantra for this vase project is

Namo Sam-man- doh - moo toh nam wah-ri -la-me

I create a very small print of the mantra on the computer and I repeat the mantra by copying it for 108 times in narrow long rows. I print out the mantra and then cut the long rows and paste the strips of paper to make one long scroll. I then roll the scroll into a neat like package and paste the end of the scroll so that it does not come apart. You should have 108 mantras on each scroll. If you are doing larger Dragon Vases you can do more mantras such as 10 times 108.

In this image you see the glueing process of the scroll.

Then I place the scroll in the center of the vase.

This vase had an offering of a beautiful silver ring.

The scroll was placed in the center of the ring

Now once you have created all the levels of the different grains and medicine in your vase it is now time to seal the offering. I do this with red wax. You can melt down a red candle. Usually I use an old coffee can for this part of the process. But in Java we used a bowl which was placed in a pan of water to melt down the wax.

This is just another image of the mantra scroll before it was placed in the vase.

Now we slowly and carefully seal each jar with the red wax to preserve the offerings.

This dragon vase was made of bone. We sealed and placed a golden lotus

in the middle of the hot wax.

The last part of the process: I glue on the lid. This will ensure the

dragon vase to be preserved over time. Remember these vases are buried underground

and will release the blessings and prayers over decades of time.

This is the mudra of the Dragon Vase Practice. If you look closely it

appears like a head of a dragon. Sometimes when I am holding

this mudra and singing the mantra I move my hands skywards,

still holding the mudra. You can feel the energies of the dragon

running though your body. So be prepared for the experience.

This is the beginning of the mudra before you criss-cross your fingers

to create the dragon head.


The Dragon Vase Practice

You begin by calling the Five Dhyani Buddhas

I call forth the Presence of the Five Dhyani Buddhas

Amitabha, Amoghasiddhi, Akshobhya,

Ratnasambhava

Vairochana

Now it is time to make the refuge prayer:

I take refuge in the Five Dhyani Buddhas

I take refuge in the Dharma

I take refuge in the Sangha

Then you make the four Immeasureable Vows:

I vow to have limitless kindness towards all beings

I vow to have limitless compassion towards those who are suffering.

I vow to have limitless joy over the salvation of others from suffering.

I vow to have limitless equanimity towards friend and foe.

Now you call the Dragon King and I also include his retinue.

I give the Dragon King to the Five Dhyani Buddhas.

I call forth the Dragon King and his retinue.
I give you to the Five Dhyani Buddhas

For your own enlightenment and also healing.

May you have long life, wealth, good fortune and happiness.

You now perform the Dragon Mudra and begin the Mantra which is

Namo Sam-man-doh mo-toh nam wah-ri-la-me

The mantra is performed at the least 108 times but usually

I will do about 5oo mantras or more.

You will visualize the vase turning into the Dragon King as you repeat the mantra.

When you are finished performing the mantra you sit in Silence

and begin to visualize the five Buddhas over the vase.

Each Buddha is represented in one of the five dharma colors red, yellow, green, white, and blue.

You see the Dragon King rise up and merge with the five Buddhas.

The Dragon King dissolves into the five Buddhas.

Then the five Buddhas dissolve into the radiant light of the five colors.

Then the colors dissolve into the vases below.

You have now completed the first day of the practice.

Repeat this practice for seven days without missing a day over the vases.

The seventh day you have finished the dragon vase practice and it is now time to

store the vases until they are ready to be offered to the Dragons in Nature.

When I offer these vases to the Dragons I usually recite the refuge prayer and then

offer the mantra and mudra as I bury the vase.

Creating Dragon Vases

Above: a ceremony of creating Dragon vases.

This image is a fire dragon that was taken during the Ramayana ballet in Java

This summer I spent my time both in Java and Bali. During this visit I created Dragon Vases to offer to the land. The Dragons are actually the ley lines that run across the landscape. Java is still recovering from a devastating earthquake and is in the process of being rebuilt. The Dragon and Naga energies are the rulers of earthquakes and for this reason I thought it might be a good time to share this dragon vase practice with others.


This dragon image was found on a dragon stupa in Java

I began to make Dragon vases offerings about four years ago when I was living in Mt. Shasta. I had been involved in making treasure vases with a few Tibetan Lamas. Then I was introduced to a Buddhist Practice of creating Dragon Vases that came from China. Since then I have made over 100 vases and they have been offered both in the United States, Japan, and Europe.

Dragon Vases pacify the negative energies and stress that the Dragon spirits of the land have absorbed from our modern world. This practice actually calls forth the five Buddhas from the five Buddha family and offers the Dragon King and his subjects to the Buddhas for their own enlightenment.

The original practice used silver vases and very expensive Chinese medicine, but over time I simplified the recipe by using the ingredients that that Tibetan Lamas used for their treasure vases. I did this because of the expense of creating many vases. I found that the change of ingredients did not matter but it was my intention and the purity of my practice and offering that was important. I do not ask for myself when offering these vases. I make a pure offering only asking for the healing and the enlightenment of the Dragon King and Queen and their families.

I would like to share the following images and Dragon practice, so if you feel so inspired you can add this to your Naga Offerings. There is no monthly commitment of making Dragon Vases. I usually create ten to twenty vases at a time and then store them away in a cupboard that is high, dry and clean. It have spent up to 6 months offering 20 vases high in the mountains in Northern California. The most inportant part of making an offering is to be able to indentified the dragon in the land.

When I have identified a Dragon form in the landscape I will then bring a vase to this sacred place and offer to the dragon and bury the vase at his head. I have also offered vases into the oceans and waterfalls and large bodies of water, such as the river Seine in Paris. The following links will explain how to find the dragon lines in the lay of the land. Once you have identified the dragon lines then you will know where to bury the dragon vase.

http://sacredjourneyeurope.blogspot.com/2007/09/dragon-lines.html

http://sacredjourneyeurope.blogspot.com/search?q=melusine+alps

http://sacredjourneyeurope.blogspot.com/2007_06_01_archive.html

http://shastadragons.tripod.com/



The first week I spent in Java our friends brought us to a double stupa which was dedicated to the King and Queen Dragons of the land. The Dragons lines always have a yin and a yang lines that run through the land. This stupa overlooked one of Javas active volcanoes. A good place to start offering Dragon vases, I would think.